From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmissilemis‧sile /ˈmɪsaɪl $ ˈmɪsəl/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 PMWa weapon that can fly over long distances and that explodes when it hits the thing it has been aimed at a nuclear missile a missile attack2 THROWan object that is thrown at someone in order to hurt them Demonstrators threw missiles at the police. → ballistic missile, cruise missile, guided missile
Examples from the Corpus
missile• Another threat to the F-22, he says, is the cruise missile.• It also recommends a study of how to protect aircraft from missiles.• Nevertheless, they accepted the need for research into missile technology to go ahead in parallel with aircraft development.• a nuclear missile• How distant now seem the quarrels of the spring over the introduction of new short-range missiles.• They believed U-2s went much higher and they knew Soviet missiles could not reach these altitudes.• Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed makes military aircraft, space systems, missiles and electronics systems.• Mention the missile but not the make.• These missiles are precisely the type of weapons that are demonstrating their effectiveness in the Gulf conflict.nuclear missile• A second myth is that the United States has protection against a nuclear missile attack.• If they accepted, nuclear missiles would vanish from the earth.• He kept Moscow happy by fulfilling the state quotas in steel, tanks and nuclear missiles.• As for Mrs Thatcher's loudly voiced determination to force through a replacement of the Lance nuclear missile, nobody is listening.• Even short-range nuclear missiles are tactical.• What more can you ask for from a thriller about renegades who steal nuclear missiles?• If the nuclear missiles are militarily useless, why risk alienating the West by hanging on to them?• A visitor to the control room of this nuclear missile submarine might pass it by without a second thought.Origin missile (1600-1700) Latin missilis “able to be thrown”, from mittere; → MISSION 